There are several types of prior art apparatus for continuous strip casting of aluminum sheet material. A first type is a roll caster such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,216 to J. L. Hunter which comprises flowing molten aluminum into the nip between chill rollers which function to solidify the molten aluminum and form it into a continuous strip. A second type is known as a block caster such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,248 to Gyongyos comprising continuously casting an aluminum melt into strip form and hot rolling the continuous strip at a casting speed in a temperature range of between 300 degrees C. and the non-equilibrium solidus temperature of the melt with a total reduction in thickness in excess of 70% and coiling the hot strip and allowing it to cool. A third type is a belt caster such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,193 to Baker et al. which comprises feeding a continuous supply of molten aluminum material between moving upper and lower continuous belts and cooling the material while between the moving upper and lower belts to form a continuous strip of aluminum sheet material. Other variations of belt-type casters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,348 to Hazelett et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,103 to Silvilotti et al.
Each of the foregoing apparatus and processes have certain advantages and disadvantages. For example, a roll-type caster operates at low speed whereas block and belt casters can accommodate high alloy and harder metals.